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Towards the end of Yvonne Mboi’s pregnancy, she recalled, “I realized I was too big. I was afraid.” These concerns loomed large after her harrowing flight from conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"I became pregnant at 14 years old,” Angie told UNFPA. Now 19, she lives with her son in a low-income area on the margins of Peru’s capital, Lima, in the densely populated Villa El Salvador District. Angie recalls that... Read more

“We are equal to boys and can also contribute to society,” said 17-year-old Lidia Suale Saide. Lidia knows what it means to stand up for these beliefs. One year ago, she refused her mother’s attempt to marry her off.

“I had plans for my life, but since I got pregnant I had to plan for my life in a different way,” said Fern*, 18. “If I knew this was going to happen, I would have just focused on my studies. I would not have bothered... Read more

Nyomon Lilian will never forget the day she decided to become a midwife. A few years ago, in her hometown of Kajo Keji, in South Sudan’s Equatoria region, she watched as her neighbour bled out after giving birth.

Not long ago, the sight of a 10-year-old bride was a common occurrence in Ethiopia’s Kolla Tembein District, said Daniel Hagos, the district’s chief administrator. But the community’s women and girls are mobilizing to... Read more

Ngun Hlei was lucky to have seen a midwife during her third pregnancy. Many women in Myanmar don’t. “I felt very unwell for many months during that pregnancy. But what could I do? I carried on with my work making snacks... Read more

UNITED NATIONS, New York/Ouagadougou, BURKINA FASO – Fourteen-year-old Latifatou Compaoré learned the spirit of resistance from her mother.
Her mother was subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) as a child in... Read more

In the early 1980s, Abdullah Ali Abdullah saw constant infections and childbirth complications while volunteering in a health centre in Sudan’s North Kordofan state. He soon realized many of these issues had the same... Read more